Human Face Of Science

Shane McCarthy

PhD in Medicine

Original Country: Ireland

Laboratory:Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

When: December 2010

Shane McCarthy is the nicest and most polite guy. He is universally popular and liked. Therefore, I was very surprised to find out that is passion is Hurling. This violent and bloody game makes American football look like child’s play.

Famously, Shane graduated wearing an arm cast. He has broken more bones playing this game than he care to count including all ten fingers. Shane embodies the French saying « Méfiez-vous de l’eau qui dort » (Still waters run deep).

What Shane McCarthy says about his own work:

“I work on identifying alterations in DNA that could increase the risk of psychiatric diseases such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depression. In our lab, we use DNA sequencing to compare relatives within families that are greatly burdened with mental illness. Ultimately, our goal is to better understand how differences in the DNA sequence of affected and unaffected relatives can inform us about the biological mechanisms that lead to the development of psychiatric disorders and how we may use these data to identify potential targets for better therapeutics”.

Antoine Molaro

Graduate Student

Original Country: France

Laboratory: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, NY, USA

When: December 2010

Antoine Molaro is a complex individual. One’s first impression is a gregarious, outgoing guy. When he arrived to our session, he told me he did not want to smile, or, more exactly, illustrate the multiple layers of his personality, without mask.

The jazz drumsticks, a jazz history in French, the MetroCard synonym of the many hours spent commuting. Many were surprised that Antoine chose not to smile. To them, it seemed uncharacteristic; to me it was an interesting choice.

Jernej Murn

PhD in Pharmocology

Original Country: Croatia

Laboratory: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

When: December 2010

Jernej Murn is a Bowling Wizard. See his ball jump at a right angle on the alley is absolutely amazing. In fact, had I not seen him do it (and in numerous occasions) I think I never would have believed in those unlikely curves more related to some kind of telekinesis than to the laws of physics. The explanation is rather simple: he grew up in the bowling alley owned by his father.

Nevertheless, despite his endless series of strikes and his near-perfect score, playing with him remains very pleasant, for his extreme kindness and real modesty make you forget how much better than anyone he can be in this domain; not to mention that he is quite happy to help those who seek his advice.

But the most surprising may be that he is an accomplished classical pianist, so gifted, in fact, that at the end of his academic studies, he briefly considered between becoming a concert artist or a scientist.